Fiddling ... while Rome burns -

"After John Mora"
digitally manipulated fractal flame collage by Mick Mather
- click on image to view full size -

When it comes to inspiration, my blog roll features a few dozen individuals that have earned the right to sit where they do. I visit most of them every day and one of the more recent additions, John Mora's TYPOS.DAYLIGHT.FATE, has been playing with my head for months! Well, as I was aimlessly tottering about with a few fractal flames, my favorite digital drawing program and some of the usual suspect plug-ins at the Secret Visual Laboratory, up jumps the devil! It's impossible for me to deny the influence, John, so I dedicate this piece to you ... and, by the bye, it might be fun to see where you might take this after running it all through your chop shop! There's no urgency or pressure here, it just sounds like fun from where I sit.

Expanding horizons -

"The Secret Shed"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

- click on image to view full size -

Today's post is rooted in an old photograph of a farm shed that's been almost completely overgrown by weeds and second growth. After running it through the usual array of plug-ins to add a little bit of mood and darkness I used what is called the stitch tool in another photo editor to add volume. I'm not sure how well I'm going to like this since the blog automatically resizes large images and what you see here is a scaled version - click on the image to see it full size.

All Fools Day -

"April Showers"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather
- original photograph by Bill Ives -

Welcome to that special day for pranks, practical jokes and every shade of japery. That said, it should come as no surprise that I, a huge fan (especially visual jokes and wordplay), have no joke today! Very fitting that, yes? Anyway, back in October 2007 my good friend, Bill Ives, posted a set of photos taken in Italy, this particular image among them, and gave me permission to work my magic upon it. Finally, while playing about with a 'found' film still and a new plug-in, I was able to press forward ... thanks again for the inspiration, Bill!

Delivery by Tuesday -

"The Oversize Coffee Table Book"
digital collage by Mick Mather

In a moment of weakness and need, I began this piece in photoshop. Little by little I'm working things out and I have to admit there are some very useful filters there. I s'pose a few of my past rants have been about certain plug-ins that have a weird look to them. Recently, I've been using some of those plug-ins (hopefully not over-using any of them) and have softened my view somewhat. As mentioned before, they can be very seductive and, for me, require very careful handling. That said, there's something that attracts me to those furniture ads and circulars one gets in the Sunday papers, or the mail. So, here we have one...a dark and moody piece that I find mysterious, suspenseful and, in some strange way, comforting.